Christian hip-hop artist GAWVI has been dropped by his label and from the line-up of an upcoming tour following allegations that he sent explicit photos to several woman while he was married.
In a statement it shared on Instagram on Monday, Reach Records said it cut ties with GAWVI, whose real name is Gabriel Azucena, “due to behaviour that is inconsistent with our core values.”
The announcement came only hours after the 33-year-old announced that his marriage ended in 2020. “There is no scandal to gossip about, just 2 adults that made decisions that lead to this point,” he said, in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Visual artist Cataphant, a friend of GAWVI’s wife Brianna, then tweeted: “Years ago I made album artwork for @gawvi. For my next project I’m going to make a collage of all the unasked for d**k pics he sent to women while he was still married.”
Cataphant (aka Catalina Bellizzi-Itiola) later claimed GAWVI’s actions were not a well-kept secret. “He wasn’t good at covering his tracks,” she said. “EVERYONE confronted him … When someone refuses accountability and is a text book narcissist, there is no ‘addressing in privately.’”
The artist went on to call GAWVI a “f**king liar” and claimed at least one of the females who received a pic was underage.
GAWVI deleted his verified Twitter account and currently has no posts on his Instagram.
In its statement, Reach Records acknowledge its decision was “something we have been processing for over a year and have wrestled with what would be the right way forward.” It said “new details that were provided made us realize today’s decision was necessary.
“This is not a chance to throw anybody away. We continue to hope for restoration to be the outcome.”
GAWVI, who has not publicly responded to Cataphant’s allegation, was also removed from the We Are Unashamed Tour, which was due to kick off March 17.